i call the loudest and most just letting a bird know where i am. once he responds or i trigger a reaction, i do soft clucks and purrs and maybe yelp some...but still soft. also, i do it sparingly. not too much, but when i do its soft. now, if i have a bird roosted, i call to him once, and when he responds. i wait for him to fly down before i call another time....and when i do....it is soft and subtle. hope this is some help. if i went any more id spill 1000 pages worth! good luck this spring!

i'll do some yelping till i get a responence . then i'll let the tom dictate how much calling i do. if he coming along a few yelps to keep him coming if he starts heading the other way or hanging up i,ll pick it up . i would say if the tom is headed to your decoys i wouldn't call unless you are using a mouth call the less movement the better....wayne

I hunt more woods than open areas and tend to have the best success by cutting hard and following that with a few yelps once I know that a gobbler is on the ground. Gobblers will often answer me before I'm done calling. I let 'em gobble a few more times and throw in a few quieter yelps out the other side of the tree to make it sound like the hen is going away & so he can't pinpoint my exact location.

Most of the time a gobbler has hens coming to his calls & not the other way around. If you call too much, he may hang up where he is and wait on you to come to him. Hens move around too, so if all the calling is consistently coming from the same area, he may realize that something's not right and stay away.

Cut N Run wrote:Hens move around too, so if all the calling is consistently coming from the same area, he may realize that something's not right and stay away.

Jim

i am good about making loud and then soft calls and even turning my head to make the hen seem farther. but what u said reminded me of a guy i know from southwest georgia who will get in on a bird start calling to him and get a response and then move 15 yards to the right and call some before moving to a third location to finish working the bird, scratching in every position he gets in......risky risky business....but u gotta give him major props! (and yes...just like the majority of turkey tactics, it works SOMEtimes)

That's a good question you asked, the answer to it a bit touchy. Some birds you can over call, and some you can't call enough, it depends a lot on the area that your hunting. The hardest part is learning to read what that bird is saying, and the only way you learn that is by spending a lot of time in the woods listening to turkeys. Learning the different types of yelps and learning when to use them will help you.So for your first question, how much to yelp, or how long? Lets start with a tree yelp, it's a soft quiet yelp with only 2 to 4 yelps, time about 5 sec. If a bird fires back at you right away, then hit him with a couple cutts 3 or 4 and a yelp or two, time about 6 sec. Once you have his attention you must hold it, don't wait 3 min to answer him, you answer him the second he stops gobbling. That is telling him you want his attention and only his. Don't get hung out to dry talking to evey gobbler that sounds off, or that bird will leave the roost away from you, and if you take all day to answer him back he's going the other way. Once you have his full attention and he's answering your yelps, you can slow your calling down and answer every second or third gobble he makes. If he flys down your direction quit using the yelps, all soft clucks and purrs and get ready he's comin!!The same holds true for a bird on the ground, if he's coming toward you and answering your yelps, once you see him quit yelping and go to soft clucks, purrs, and whines even if he's out a 100 yards or so. Birds that are out in a open field and see your decoys, there is no need to yelp if they are coming toward you. A yelp is a location call, now I'm sure I'm going to get some flack on this, but a yelp is a location call. Birds use it to find other birds and to call other birds in to join them, once they see each other they don't yelp. If you've ever watched a hen in an open field, she'll yelp until another bird enters the field. They use the yelp for contacting other birds, if a hen is going to a Tom in an open field she never yelps going across that open field, most of the time just clucks, if she gets there and he isn't there she'll start yelping to find where he went, once he answers she'll continue on. That's why you hear of so many guys saying they don't like hunting flat open fields because birds tent to lock up about 60 to 70 out and won't come in, more times than not it's because you yelped at him. He already knows your there or sees your decoy, you have already been located. If your sitting there yelping you might just as well put a neon HUNTER sign pointing at you, because a Tom knows your a fake. Now if your in a thick woods you can get away with yelping a little better because the bird can't see as far, but as he gets close you better go to soft clucks and purrs or he'll lock up!!!

WillowRidgeCalls wrote:That's a good question you asked, the answer to it a bit touchy. Some birds you can over call, and some you can't call enough, it depends a lot on the area that your hunting. The hardest part is learning to read what that bird is saying, and the only way you learn that is by spending a lot of time in the woods listening to turkeys. Learning the different types of yelps and learning when to use them will help you.So for your first question, how much to yelp, or how long? Lets start with a tree yelp, it's a soft quiet yelp with only 2 to 4 yelps, time about 5 sec. If a bird fires back at you right away, then hit him with a couple cutts 3 or 4 and a yelp or two, time about 6 sec. Once you have his attention you must hold it, don't wait 3 min to answer him, you answer him the second he stops gobbling. That is telling him you want his attention and only his. Don't get hung out to dry talking to evey gobbler that sounds off, or that bird will leave the roost away from you, and if you take all day to answer him back he's going the other way. Once you have his full attention and he's answering your yelps, you can slow your calling down and answer every second or third gobble he makes. If he flys down your direction quit using the yelps, all soft clucks and purrs and get ready he's comin!!The same holds true for a bird on the ground, if he's coming toward you and answering your yelps, once you see him quit yelping and go to soft clucks, purrs, and whines even if he's out a 100 yards or so. Birds that are out in a open field and see your decoys, there is no need to yelp if they are coming toward you. A yelp is a location call, now I'm sure I'm going to get some flack on this, but a yelp is a location call. Birds use it to find other birds and to call other birds in to join them, once they see each other they don't yelp. If you've ever watched a hen in an open field, she'll yelp until another bird enters the field. They use the yelp for contacting other birds, if a hen is going to a Tom in an open field she never yelps going across that open field, most of the time just clucks, if she gets there and he isn't there she'll start yelping to find where he went, once he answers she'll continue on. That's why you hear of so many guys saying they don't like hunting flat open fields because birds tent to lock up about 60 to 70 out and won't come in, more times than not it's because you yelped at him. He already knows your there or sees your decoy, you have already been located. If your sitting there yelping you might just as well put a neon HUNTER sign pointing at you, because a Tom knows your a fake. Now if your in a thick woods you can get away with yelping a little better because the bird can't see as far, but as he gets close you better go to soft clucks and purrs or he'll lock up!!!

Great stuff Scott!!!! Would you elaborate on the difference between a purr and a whine?

"Chasin' gobblers has a lot in common with dealing with a wife, 'bout the time ya' think ya' got 'em figured out, they change the rules!!!"

In my years if doing it more often than not less is more especially if you are new to the game. It's a lot easier to overcall when new and have them lock up. They know where you are keep tthem wanting more. As you get more experience you will know what the bird is telling you to do.Good luck

Would you elaborate on the difference between a purr and a whine?With a purr you get a chattery sound, with a whine, it's more like a kee kee. You just create a whistle sound that is much slower than when you kee kee, but it's the same sound. It is softer than a kee kee and slower, and just a single note.